Lane Kiffin and Tennessee Move Forward Together

One of the most true things I know in life is that people will see what they want to see.

If you want to be negative today, you can use numbers like 33 or 5-15.

If you want to be positive, you see that 33 a little differently, and tack the word "experience" onto the 5-15 mark in Oakland.

Either way, as the 2008 season is officially put to bed and all Vol fans turn towards 2009 with literally the longest offseason in program history in front of us, we have to realize a couple of things.

1.) Putting Lane Kiffin over to the side for a moment, wasn't 2008 as bad as it's ever going to get in many ways to be a Tennessee Vol?

A team with championship expectations went 5-7. The games they won were against UAB, Northern Illinois, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and Kentucky—nothing you'd write home about. The Vols fielded the worst offense in the modern history of the program that was literally unwatchable for many who just stopped coming to Neyland Stadium.

A Tennessee legend was painfully forced out after 35 years of service to his university, and a head coaching career that included a National Championship.

And Saturday night, one year after we were there in the Georgia Dome, the SEC Championship Game will feature No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 2 Florida, winner goes to the BCS National Championship Game.

This season has been in the depths of despair.

Three weeks ago the downward spiral stopped, at some point during the off week between the loss to Wyoming and the season ending wins over Vanderbilt and Kentucky. Beating our annual whipping posts doesn't signal that everything's going to be alright, but it certainly didn't make it worse.

And seeing Phillip Fulmer exit the field victorious—and with a smile on his face—helped make things more OK, at least for me.

We can all agree that 2008 was a disaster. And I will probably go my whole life without seeing a more difficult season on a holistic level than this one for the University of Tennessee. I certainly hope so.

2.) Understand that this makes life very much easier for Lane Kiffin.

You'll see what you want to see. If you loved watching Kiffin channel Jim Tressel in the press conference today by talking about beating Florida next year (and astute fans will remember that Tressel's Buckeyes went 6-6 in his first season...but did beat Michigan. And then won the National Championship the next year. I'm just saying.)—if you enjoyed the press conference, if you wanna get all "There's gonna be CHANGE!" crazy the way many have experience in doing from early November, if you're already talking yourself into an instant turnaround whether you hated Phillip Fulmer or not...

...remember that Dave Clawson and Buzz Peterson won the press conference too. Then remember that the Clawfense was built up from that day until it hit the field in Los Angeles. Then remember where we are now.

The press conference is meaningless in September. And September is what counts.

The only thing I remember about Bruce Pearl's press conference was him saying that a number of guys had walked thru that door in the last few years and walked out 3-4 years later because they didn't get it done, and that if h

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